


Restless Minds

by Nevanna



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Dreamscapes, Episode: s02e14 The Stanchurian Candidate, Episode: s02e15 The Last Mabelcorn, Gen, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-04
Updated: 2016-08-04
Packaged: 2018-07-29 08:26:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7677226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nevanna/pseuds/Nevanna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ford's demons, literal and otherwise, cause him to rethink his actions toward his brother and his changing responsibilities to his family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Restless Minds

**Author's Note:**

> This story requires canon knowledge through episode 2.15, "The Last Mabelcorn."
> 
> Also, when I wrote this, I hadn't read _Journal 3_ yet, and so I ask you to forgive any contradictions.

The trees stretch toward the night sky, at once familiar and unsettling. Ford spent six years recording the mysteries of these woods, and there were times that he hoped and feared that he would never find all the answers, even if he had six _hundred_ more years to search.

When he hears the laughter above him – no, behind him – no, all around him – he’s reminded that some mysteries might have been better left uncovered. Light gathers before his eyes, and coalesces into a shape that he knows only too well.

“How’ve you _been_ , Fordsy?” Bill exclaims. “How’s the _family_?”

“Do you really expect me to answer that question?” Ford retorts.

“Well, it’s not like I really need to _ask_. I took a peek at the latest round of ‘Who Wants To Be Mayor?’ It’s pretty funny how so many people think a _human being_ could ever be in charge of Gravity Falls! Times sure have changed!”

“You’ve been watching us.” Ford tries to keep his voice calm and objective.

“I _might_ even tell you how, if you say ‘please,’” Bill says. “You were always so _good_ at that. I’ll say this much: your brother making a fool of himself was one of the _less_ boring things I’ve seen recently!” His eye flashes with images of Stan making speeches and posing for pictures, always wearing the necktie that Ford had created and handed over to his nephew. “But then, he’s an entertaining guy. I wouldn’t mind taking him out for a spin.”

Ford grits his teeth. “That will never happen. Stanley knows another con artist when he sees one.” He hopes.

“Watch yourself there, old pal.” Bill flips and spins in circles. “You almost sounded like you cared about that worthless twin of yours.”

“He doesn’t deserve to be turned into your puppet.”

“But it’s fine and dandy when you and the brats turn him into one?” Bill jeers.

Ford goes rigid. If running was a possibility before, he doesn’t think that he could manage it now. “Dipper and Mabel were trying to _help_ Stan. There is _no_ comparison with what you did to me.”

“Please keep trying to justify yourself. It’s adorable!” Bill crows. “Didn’t we have _fun_ when you let me take over? I don’t blame you for wanting to give somebody else a taste!”

Ford shudders at the word _fun_ , and for a moment, the decades fall away. 

_(Bill released him abruptly enough to send him sprawling, and there were bruises forming in new places, and he felt empty and fragile and_ human...)

“I would trust two children to control another person before I would trust _you_ ,” he says as the memory fades. “Right or wrong, it’s over now.”

“And you’ll be out of their lives when summer ends, right?” Bill reminds him. “ _If_ any of you last that long. Doesn’t change how they feel about you now, does it? And we both _know_ what happens to people who care about you.”

_(Ford watched from the window as Stan landed on the sidewalk, cringing under their father’s unforgiving gaze…)_

“This has been a trip, Fordsy!”

_(...He held Fiddleford close, calling his name, as the light from the portal danced across his friend’s blank face and wide, sightless eyes…)_

“Let’s do it again real soon!”

_(…He would defend Dipper from the wizard and his minions, no matter what happened, and when had this stopped being a game?)_

“Don’t call me – I’ll call you!”

Ford nearly falls backward in his chair, suddenly, fully awake. He regains his balance just in time to keep from crashing to the floor of the basement. It’s hardly the first time that he’s fallen asleep at his desk, with pages of notes scattered before him, and that gleaming laughter filling his head. Sometimes he can’t tell the difference between a true visitation – in the one place where the demon can still reach him – and a manifestation of his own memories, his doubts and longings.

In the early days of their partnership, when Bill shared his mind – _truly_ shared it, instead of shoving him into a dark corner where he couldn’t move or speak – all the right words and thoughts and conclusions had come to Ford with such perfect ease and clarity. Was that how Stan felt when the children used the necktie to make him say and do as they pleased? 

When the sun comes up, if Ford ventures upstairs, what is he supposed to say? _“Sorry about the mind control, Stanley, and I won’t let it happen again?”_ Should he give Dipper and Mabel a lecture on ethics – as if he knows how – now that they look to him for guidance and protection?

From what horrors might he need to protect them, in the end?

Even if he were certain of which questions are important, Ford has even fewer answers than he did before, and, he’s afraid, less time than he needs to find them.

He reaches for a pen and begins to write.


End file.
